INDIANAPOLIS – When Cuonzo Martin looks at Michigan sophomore Glenn Robinson III, he sees a player who reminds him of his old roommate — with good reason.

Martin and Glenn Robinson Jr. were teammates — and roommates — at Purdue in the 1990s. Robinson was the first overall pick in the 1994 NBA draft.

“I get the Big Ten Network at home and I see him,” Martin said. “Everything about him is like his dad — the swagger, the way he walks. … His father was one of the toughest to ever play the game on the college level. His dad was one of the best ever.

“We play at Vanderbilt and that’s a raised court,” he said. “You’ve just got to go play.”

Even with curtains placed behind one basket to provide a better shooting background, it remains to be seen how well the four teams in the Midwest Regional semifinal will handle the cavernous setting. UT’s players pointed out that the SEC Tournament was played in the Georgia Dome.

“You really don’t know what it’s going to be like until the place is packed with people,” said Vols guard Jordan McRae.

McRae noted that the rims seemed to be looser than the ones the Vols encountered at the Georgia Dome.

UT is shooting just 22.8 percent from 3-point range in three NCAA Tournament games. Michigan is shooting 46.7 percent on 3s in the tournament.

Freshman perspective: Vols freshman guard Darius Thompson understands how important the Sweet 16 berth is to his older teammates. Only three of them — seniors Jordan McRae, Jeronne Maymon and Antonio Barton — had played in the NCAA Tournament prior to this season. And Barton did it as a Memphis Tiger before transferring to UT.

“The guys that were already here talked about not making it to the tournament or being in the NIT,” said Thompson, a former Blackman standout. “Then you saw their faces when we made the tournament. You could see how excited they were.

“It’s a good feeling for me to be in the tournament my first year.”

Thompson has played a total of 38 minutes in UT’s three tournament games.

Memories: Senior Jordan Morgan is one of the few Wolverines who played in the NCAA Tournament first-round game against UT three years ago. Morgan scored 10 points as Michigan won by 30 in what proved to be Bruce Pearl’s final game as Vols coach.

“Their style of play is different with the different coach,” Morgan said. “… Tobias Harris gave us trouble in the first half of that game. They had a lot of size in the front court.”

On the rebound: Mitch McGary, who burst onto the national scene when Michigan made a run to the national championship game last postseason, has not played since undergoing back surgery on Jan. 7. He has adjusted to the role of cheering his teammates while rehabbing his back.

“I realized that I am going to have to work through this adversity, and once I realized I needed to get surgery, I needed to stay motivated and get healthy afterward,” McGary said. “… I just don’t take anything for granted now.”